Marvin

Love you profile pic.

Note: although I disliked how XGMTM rushed the rebuild and wasted assets about as stupidly as XGMJB did and I intensely disliked XHCDDB's system and player development, they did have a plan which might have partially worked in spite of them. They should not have been canned before the end of year 3. I find the longing for them nothing short of mind-blowing. It is a sign of how low our standards have fallen that people think they were good. I grant and agree that their mediocrity was above the execrable records which followed, even if XGMJB deliberately sank Housley to get XHCRK -- or at least he acted like it by undermining his players and coaches by not making moves to sustain hope and then denigrating them in the first post-TDL press conference. In the XHCDDB era, XGMTM had no idea how to acquire defencemen. The best part of those back-ends pre-dated XGMTM. He grossly overpaid for quick fixes. Some were good (e.g., O'Reilly) and some were not (McGinn, Lehner). This compounded the offence of destroying a winning mindset from which the franchise still has not recovered and wildly over-paying for Bogosian and Kane. As he did in Pittsburgh, Bylsma undermined the natural growth of the youth and ran a system which stunted their development. He also dragged the play down to unimaginatively predictable levels.

Let us establish what is objectively better and not. I think we have all partially forgotten what 4 competent NHL lines on the Sabres looks like. So let me put on my analyst turban. Tell me how this looks to you. I. Under HCDG, the players execute hockey fundamentals at basic NHL-level competence for the first time in ages. II. For the first time since 2012-3, we have 18 skaters and 2 goaltenders who all belong on NHL rosters. But now, let us compare the roster with other teams'. As it is now, this is a flawed roster with some obvious holes. III. Ullmark is in the high end of the average starting goaltenders and keeps getting better. Pekka-Lukkonen looked solid. Mike Bales can perform miracles near the level of Arturs Irbe but for a shorter time. IV. Borgen, Bryson, and Samuelsson are 5-8D right now. Dahlin, Miller, Ristolainen, Jokiharu, and McCabe are currently all in the 3-5D range. Fortunately, the youth seem to have very high floors and high ceilings. V. Eichel is a high-end 1C. Skinner and Olofsson need the right kind of centres, but function in the 2W range in a vacuum. Reinhart looks like a 2C. Cozens is about a 3C now but will improve quickly. Ruotsalainen, Asplund, Thompson, and Mittlestadt look like decent 3rd-liners and are all improving. Bjork is a 4th liner with some room to grow. Girgensons and Okposo are ultra-high-end 4th liners. Sheahan, Reider, and Caggiula are 4th liners of varying competence. Eakin brings up the rear. The holes on this team are pretty obvious: 1. Too many finesse-type players overall, particularly at forward. 2. Not enough sage, veteran, defencive defencemen. We need a couple of these. 3. Goaltending depth. 4. Top 6 forward. Sure, Cozens can be one next year, but I would still like to add someone else who plays the game like Cozens does.

I remember riding into Buffalo for a Science Fiction convention and we had a game on the radio. About halfway through the first period, RJ announced a goal after a scramble. The driver pulled the car over to listen for a moment. She then turned to me and asked, "Who IS this guy?"

My all times favourite: he decked him right out of his jockstrap!

I hope someone posts the RJ tributes on YouTube so I can make them favourites to listen to when I need the pick-me-up. Worse - it is great music without the compelling story for it to enhance.

Je-je-je-je-je-je-je-Jeanneret!!!!!

How about as a 3rd scoring line behind Reinhart's and Eichel's?

"Penguins is practically chicken." Hockey Gods, "pardon me, but could you help out an NHL franchise and its fans who are down on their luck?"

Wow. There was only one real playoff race.

Almost as important as the Head Coach are his assistants and the coaching in Rochester. We need to get all of these right.

Miracle Whip Motivated Whistleblower

That team has far, far, far, far, far better skaters than the tank teams. It is not close. One of the many problems with XHCDDB for this team is that he's terrible for young players. He is justifiably notorious for mishandling youth like Zemgus and Larry. His system may not emasculate talent like XHCRK's did, but it is not too far from it.

I suspect the players may have a say in what happens. Guys who came in from the outside this season may have important input. And some former Sabres will tell GMKA what they are hearing around the league.

I agree. For anyone knows, this could be an excellent draft -- we just have scant evidence. The scouts are likely to miss a lot more good players and select more clunkers at the top of the draft. IMHO, the reason thus draft is considered "weak" is because there is not a broad, wide, or deep overall consensus about who slots where. More importantly for the bottom lines of the pundits and their employers, they can't get clicks second-guessing picks for months because nobody really knows what is going on. It won't be as simple criticising the Sabres for, say, taking Berniers over Eklund, Guenther, and Power. Heaven forfend that they will need to work on their articles analysing and reporting on player development.

We could try resigning Larsson and play Cozens with either Eichel or Reinhart while the other gets Ruotsalainen. Signing real 4C's is a more conventional plan.

I am expecting COG to be LOG with more scoring because of Cozens's skill. It breaks him in at centre better as well. Also, I did think of a way to satisfy my needs for the line-up and make the bigger changes you want in the top 6. You convinced me that it needed to be considered more thoroughly. So, with a little luck, we may both get what we want and what the other guy wants. 🙂

This is one reason I think that if he plays centre next year, I want him with, I hope, Okposo and Girgensons to learn the job and learn from two veterans who play like he does. That would also force an acquisition for the top 9 and rebalance the lines -- but I would be lying if I claimed it were serendipitous. He would still get PP2 time. As of now, our lines would be: Skinner-Eichel-Ruotsalainen Bjork-Reinhart-Olofsson Asplund-Mittlestadt-Thompson Girgensons-Cozens-Okposo

He deserves it.

We would like to protect all of Eichel, Reinhart, Olofsson, Asplund, Mittlestadt, and Thompson; we must protect Skinner. That leaves Bjork out. I am trying to figure out who else we would need to protect unless we need to protect Cozens and I don't understand the rules. The system's orientation is different. It is geared for attacking and forward movement. But because we are pretty young, especially on the defence, we make a lot of turnovers from the defence. Moreover, the young guys often lose their checks in their own zone, so there are more chances both on the initial shot and on rebounds. This is less common now, but the improvement is incremental. The opposition is far stronger on average now and is more capable in puck possession and puck pursuit. So the Sabres are having a much harder time breaking up rushes and causing turnovers. Additionally, they are being pressured more effectively and are turning the puck over more often. They are slowly improving here overall. Lastly, when you are rolling out #4, #5, and #6 on your goaltending depth chart, teams are just shooting more, hoping to find an obvious weakness. IMHO, the team has sacrificed some defence for offence, but the problems are less systemic and more inexperience. But the play in the opposition half of the ice is so vastly improved that I feel the trade-off is worth it.

I broke my promise and voted for the playoffs.

Fascinating.

That's amazing. A bright spot in this horrendous year.

Let's go, Buffalo.

They must make some changes. They need at least 1 goaltender for Buffalo, whoever he be, and either another guy for Rochester with UPL in Buffalo or, my preferred route, a competent NHL goaltender. Let us eliminate the cheapo goals against. Unless they are willing to accept continued mistakes on the back-end because of youth and lack of hockey sense, they need at least 1 veteran defenceman; my preference is for 2. Let us cut down on the turnovers which lead to odd-man rushes. We need to drive Eakin into Rochester and fill in the bottom of the roster. Let us stop getting caved in on 1 line each game. We need at least 1 upgrade in the top 6. This team has a hard time finishing sentence, let alone scoring chances. We also need some different styles. I would prefer to upgrade 2 spots. In order, that gives: 1st goaltender, 1st defenceman, 1st top 6 forward, bottom of forwards, 2nd goaltender, 2nd defenceman, 2nd top 6 forward. They have about $19M to work with. Goaltenders are about $4M each at my desired performance level. Defencemen are $3M at my desired performance level. Top 6 forwards probably cost $3-5M more each for the desired upgrades. Bottom of the roster is about $2M total.